Officials to evaluate staffing needs
The acute inpatient unit at the Castle Point VA Medical Center in Wappingers Falls closed for 120 days beginning Feb. 1 to “re-evaluate staffing needs,” the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System said.
According to the system, “patients with acute medical conditions will continue to be treated in urgent care, and those requiring hospitalization will be sent to the nearest community or VA medical facility.”
Castle Point will still provide primary and specialty care, mental health and other services to veterans, and its Community Living Center will remain open, according to VA Hudson Valley.
Rep. Pat Ryan, whose U.S. House district includes the hospital, said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb. 4) that the unit must immediately be reopened. “This is outrageous, and a fundamental breach of the sacred duty we have to care for our veterans who’ve put their lives on the line for our country,” he said.
A 2022 report from U.S. Veterans Affairs recommended closing Castle Point, concluding that the facility was underutilized; needed more than $100 million in upgrades and repairs. Just three of Castle Point’s 26 inpatient beds were occupied on an average day in 2019, according to the VA.
